By Steven Agen
The last fairytale of Euro 2016 ended on Wednesday when Portugal eliminated Cinderella semifinalists Wales by a score of 2-0. The loss knocks the small UK nation of about 3,000,000 inhabitants out of their first ever trip to the last four of a major tournament and propels Cristiano Ronaldo to his first final on the international stage in twelve years. Following Iceland’s defeat to France, Wales were the darlings of the tournament but couldn’t produce any spark going forward without suspended mdifielder Aaron Ramsey. Gareth Bale tried to pick up the slack, but was clearly outshone by Ronaldo on the night.
Pre-match festivities before Portugal-Wales at Euro 2016.
Ronaldo saw a penalty shout go unanswered on 10 minutes as the match opened quietly. The whole of the first half proved to be a tense affair with very little to separate the sides. Chris Coleman’s 5-3-2 had proven difficult for the talented Portugal attacking unit to find any space. Similarly Bale struggled to generate much room with little help available to him. Wales held almost 53% of the possession but Portugal out-shot them 5-3 after 45 minutes.
Portugal started the second interval on the front foot and soon had a reward for it. Five minutes into the half, Raphael Gurreiro crossed towards Ronaldo on the far post off of a short corner routine. The Real Madrid man jumped early and hung high in the air before thumping a header past Wayne Hennessey for the game’s first goal. Portugal deserved the lead on the run of play, and it was immediately clear that Wales would need to find another gear to match them.
Instead it was Portugal striking again, only three minutes later. Ronaldo collected a loose ball right of center at the top of the area and struck the ball low back towards the left hand post. Nani was the first to meet it, along the edge of the six yard box, and he easily redirected the ball first time into the back of the net. Hennessey had been dragged to his right to deal with the initial strike form Ronaldo, and his goal was gaping when Nani beat him to the ball. At 2-0 the match was out of reach for Wales.
Portugal focused on staying compact at the back after their second goal, and Wales would only threaten Rui Patricio with the occasional strike from distance the rest of the way. Renato Sanchez led several dangerous counterattack opportunities and Ronaldo failed to score off of a few direct free kicks as Portgual looked more likely to get a third goal than concede one. They closed the match out comfortably and have now earned a date with either the hosts or the world champions in Sunday’s final.
And with the completion of this semifinal, the top half of the knockout draw has been completed as well. The story was long and complex, but in the end that peculiar alignment of stars was all for Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. All that’s left is for them to take advantage of it and wipe the memories of 2004 out of their minds forever.
EURO2016
